(1) Field of the Invention
The general inventive concept relates to a liquid crystal display.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display, which is one of the most widely used type of flat panel displays, generally includes two display plates on which field generating electrodes, such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode, are disposed and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The liquid crystal display typically generates electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying voltage to the field generating electrodes, determines a direction of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer and controls a polarization of incident light by the generated electric field to displaying images.
A vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display, in which a longitudinal axis of the liquid molecule is aligned to be vertical to an upper and lower display plate when an electric field is not generated in the liquid crystal layer, typically has a high contrast ratio and a wide reference-viewing angle.
In general, one pixel may be divided into a plurality of domains, corresponding to liquid crystal molecules whose alignment directions are different from one another, respectively, to increase the viewing angle in the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display. A method of forming a cutout portions, e.g., a slit in the field generating electrode, may be used to divide the one pixel into the plurality of domains. Since the cutout portions determine a direction where the liquid crystal molecule is tilted, these cutout portions may be disposed to disperse the tilt direction of the liquid crystal molecule in various directions, and the reference-viewing angle of the liquid crystal display is thereby increased.
On the other hand, the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display may have side visibility lower than front visibility thereof. Accordingly, a method that divides one pixel into two subpixels and makes the voltage of two subpixels different may be used to improve side visibility of the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display.